Fri Jun 24, 2005 12:37 pm   Reply with quote      

A 13-year-old girl has become the youngest author to be published in South Africa's main medical journal for her research on "PlayStation thumb".

More here.

Aaron

Fri Jun 24, 2005 5:36 pm   Reply with quote      

You know, I laughed when I saw this post, but this can become a pretty serious medical problem, given how popular consoles like PS, Xbox and GameCube are.

Sat Jun 25, 2005 1:45 pm   Reply with quote      

...and how often kids spend on them. I would imagine that many spend many hours a day, even on school days, playing them.

Aaron

Sat Jun 25, 2005 1:54 pm   Reply with quote      

Yeah i read the same thing and reported on this at my playstation site.

Its shocking to hear that this causes such damage.
Im sure that Sony cant be too pleased about this, why not Xbox thumb...

Sat Jun 25, 2005 2:35 pm   Reply with quote      

That's a good point, but perhaps it's indicative of how much Sony dominate the games console market. So, at the end of the day, they're probably not doing too badly.

Aaron

Sat Jun 25, 2005 5:11 pm   Reply with quote      

I'd like to hear more about this "damage". What damage do your really get from this?

Sat Jun 25, 2005 7:15 pm   Reply with quote      

In the hand, things like blisters, RSI, etc.

In addition, I think some kids stay up to late playing these games, and go to school the next day feeling tired. That's very damaging when you think about it, as it's harming their education.

Aaron

Sat Jun 25, 2005 8:25 pm   Reply with quote      

If I start thinking that video games are generally not doing any good to children including the fact that they can be very unhealthy to children, am I thinking like an old person?

Sat Jun 25, 2005 10:01 pm   Reply with quote      

LOL... maybe, but thinking like an old person doesn't mean to say you're thinking wrong!

I think the health implications of video games are very clear to see. I would be curious to see a graph of the increase of video games and the increases in obesity in children and I'm sure there are probably a lot of parallels.

Aaron

Thu Jun 30, 2005 8:46 pm   Reply with quote      

I'd like to get a playstation thumb... but in the mean while I have a few new games sitting there, never played since I bought them, and I am getting a "mouse wrist". Last month I've spent more time in front of the PC than I did in the three months combined before that. Ack.

Thu Jun 30, 2005 10:06 pm   Reply with quote      

Try using keyboard more often .

Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:07 pm   Reply with quote      

Yeah, you shouldn't really need the mouse much at all...

Also, do you use wrist supports at all? Personally, I don't... but I just wondered how much people do...

Aaron

Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:19 pm   Reply with quote      

There is this bad that I can rest my wrist on when I use my mouse. That's pretty comforting and I think that's good for my wrist.